For those of us who enjoy rock music, Argentina has an flourishing
rock nacional scene with artists like Charly García, Fito Páez and Los
Fabulosos Cadillacs. Chile
may better better known for its folk music, thanks to the legacy of Violeta Parra, Víctor
Jara, Inti-Illimani, Quilapayún and others, but it does have a contemporary rock
scene, thanks to groups like Los Tres and Lucybell. The most durable
presence, though, has been Los Jaivas, founded in
Viña del Mar in 1963; the video above shows an hour-plus performance at the Festival Internacional de la Canción de Viña del Mar in 2011.

It’s hard to categorize Los Jaivas, but their closest
counterpart in the English-speaking world might be Pink Floyd, but with strong folkloric influences. Though based in
France, they tour Chile every year, and I managed to see them in 1999, when I
also had the good fortune to meet keyboardist Claudio Parra (second from left in the photograph above) as I was purchasing
tickets at Providencia’s Teatro
Universidad de Chile. A modest and gracious person, he invited me backstage that night, where the band’s rapport with its fans was admirable
– this is not a band of prima donnas.

Now in their 50th year, Los Jaivas play this coming Sunday and Monday
nights at downtown Santiago’s Teatro
Municipal (pictured above), an impressive venue where I happen to have seen the only opera of
my life and also a version of Man of La Mancha (semi-subversive when I saw it in the Pinochet years).
I won’t be in Santiago myself, but I encourage anyone there to see this landmark band in a landmark venue.
Surprisingly, it will be the group’s first appearance on this prestigious stage.

In the long run, the name may still change, perhaps when
the politicians in question finally appreciate that even appearing to stand up
for the dictatorship is toxic to their own political agenda – not just for Pinochet’s
notorious human rights violations, but also for financial corruption that
came to light after his arrest
in London in 1998. With the four other councilmembers in favor of the
change, the council will presumably meet to discuss the issue again on Tuesday,
July 2. Should the dissident conservatives condescend to provide a quorum,
Mayor Errázuriz could cast the deciding vote.

Visa Waiver Update

A couple weeks ago, several travel providers from southernmost
Chilean Patagonia appeared at a promotional event in San Francisco: the
official state agency Sernatur, the
regional airline DAP Antártica, the regional cruise ship lines Cruceros Australis and Cruceros Skorpios, and Hotel Lago Grey and Hotel Remota. I also had a chance to
speak with Rolando Ortega, the Chilean consul here, on the issue of
his country’s participation in the Visa Waiver Program and the pending elimination of the US$160 “reciprocity fee” now required of US citizens traveling
to Chile. While not at the top of the diplomatic food chain, he was able to
inform me that “The topic is well underway, but there remain some
administrative details. Certainly it will be ready toward year’s end or the
beginning of 2014.”

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With over 30 years living and traveling in Latin America, I write guidebooks to the "Southern Cone" countries - so called because of their shape on the map - of Chile and Argentina. I'm especially interested in the remote, scenic Patagonian region overlapping the two countries. I'm sole author of Moon Handbooks to Chile & Easter Island and to Patagonia, including the Falkland Islands. I've also authored the National Geographic Traveler guide to Argentina, and DK Eyewitness Guides to Argentina and Chile.
I have a PhD in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley, and have done research in Peru, Chile, Argentina and the Falklands, where I spent a year as a Fulbright-Hays scholar.
My home base is Oakland, California, but I spend five months a year in South America. I often stay in Buenos Aires, where my Argentine wife and I have an apartment in the barrio of Palermo.
I speak fluent Spanish, less fluent German, serviceable Portuguese and desperation French.
Any questions, please contact me at southerncone (at) mac.com, or leave comments by clicking on the word "comment" at the bottom of each entry. Comments are moderated, but I get to them quickly.